Fulfilling the duties of an Arctic Council observer state, and serve the National Ice Silk Road strategy

On June 5-6, 2018, the Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) of Arctic Council was held in clay, Iceland, held the Arctic Marine Litter Workshop, Prof. Lu Zhibo from our college was jointly appointed by the Department of Treaty Law of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Polar Exploration of Natural Resources Office, attended the meeting as observer countries experts and give a conference report on behalf of China.

The Protection of the Arctic Marine Environment (PAME) of Arctic Council is one of six important members of the working group under the Arctic council, which aims to give actions to provide policy, the emergency pollution prevention and control measures to protect the Arctic Marine Environment from both land and sea. These measures including strategy level coordination, planning, evaluation and guidance, to assist propulsion of existed international rules and regulations, etc.

The meeting time is on June 5, 2018 to June 6, 2018, the conference delegates included seven members from the Arctic Council besides Russia (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the United States), the observer countries (China, Germany, Britain, Singapore) and other international organizations (UNEP, European themselves, IUCN, OSPAR, GRID) and 42 representative, such as Italy, the Netherlands. The conference is jointly organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iceland, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Iceland and the Municipality of Akereli. The venue is the HOF International Conference Centre in Akereli.

The main purpose of the seminar was to discuss the latest development of the PAME Study on Marine debris, which is due to be presented to the Arctic Council ministerial meeting in May 2019. The conference was divided into four parts. The first part was the opening ceremony, in which the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Iceland gave the opening speech and introduced the guests of the participating countries. The second part introduced the international laws and regulations on microplastics. The special representative of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) made a speech at the conference. The third part discussed the latest scientific research progress of Marine garbage and microplastics, focusing on four aspects, including Marine garbage sources, environmental impact assessment, transmission routes and distribution rules, and response actions of various countries. A total of 15 thematic reports were made. The fourth part was the suggestions, summary, and the next step work plan. Invited by the organizers, our detailed introduction on the achievements of eighth arctic expedition was added in this part, obtaining the consistent affirmative of the guests. After the meeting, Finland, Norway, Italy, Germany and some international organizations expressed international cooperative intention to further advance the polar ocean micro plastic field.

It is China's right and responsibility as an observer state to actively participate in relevant work meetings of the Arctic Council, which will greatly help grasp the latest research progress of the Arctic Council member states in relevant fields and the follow-up international norms of conduct, and better serve China's development strategy of the "Ice Silk Road".

Note: The Arctic Council was established in 1996. It is an intergovernmental organization composed of eight member states, including the United States, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Russia. It mainly discusses matters related to the Arctic. China officially became an observer state in 2013.